1960 – The Dream Was Born

On a typical beautiful day in the spring of 1960, two gentlemen from Iran looked over a pleasant spot nestled at the foot of rolling hills.  They saw mountains on all sides, some still wearing a topping of snow, clear blue skies, clean air, and they envisioned a community where people would live and rejoice in the beauty that surrounded the little valley.

A New Kind of Community

The two men returned to their own country to set in motion the purchase, planning and designing for their dream of a new kind of community.  In 1968, finally, Highland Palms Mobile Estates was born but it would take many years of struggle to become the dream that Sauid and Lafillah Halimi saw so clearly on that first day in 1960  Many factors stood in the way; perhaps the greatest was too many advisers, most of them with their own appetites for self gain.  The two brothers, wealthy and respected citizens of their homeland, were well educated men having obtained degrees in London colleges, but they had so little knowledge of American business methods, and they were confused by too much ill advice.  Each had a son in London colleges at this time and upon their graduation, both were sent to America to learn more of business operations.  At the same time Highland Palms was being planned, the Halimi brothers had invested in property in Nevada and in Santa Barbara.  Tyrolian Village in Nevada was taken over by the University of Nevada.  The money was no problem and all of the investments could have been all they hoped for, but the mistake was made of not keeping each property’s accounting separate from the others; in other words, they would “rob Peter to pay Paul,” throwing all purchases, expenses, and receipts in one pot, and this proved to be their undoing.

Beginning of Development

Sauid’s son Henry was handed the little parcel in Homeland to develop.  He designed the clubhouse complex and was justifiably proud of his achievement.  He was much more reliable and mature than his cousin, Eddie, who was in charge of the developments after Henry was recalled to Iran for compulsory army service in November 1973.

The parcel in Homeland consisted of 140 acres and its location on State Highway 74 between 395 and the fast growing community of Hemet called for, ideally, a trailer park which soon became a “mobile home park.”  The industry of producing mobile homes was growing by leaps and bounds with the “doublewide” growing in popularity as people found that in an average size doublewide they had almost as much footage as most of them had in their present homes.

1972 – The Clubhouse and New Challenges

Interest in the new project became acute.  In 1972 when the clubhouse framework began taking shape, crowds of people were in evidence every day.  Nothing like it had been built in this area and it rapidly took on the look of eloquence and beauty.  Summer of 1972 saw the complex developing with the paving of the streets, the outline of the lots, the pool filling, and all about people were busy as bees.  Many of the obstacles seemed to be overcome but there  were to be more years of financial trouble such as rules and regulations of the building trade and of the country ordinances, which were still plaguing the developers, who could not understand much of it.  In its various phases, a county inspector would be called out to approve a particular stage, turn it down, and the next day another inspector would come out and pass the same stage.   It got to be almost a joke with some of us even betting which we would get the next day.

Fly-by-Nighters

Fly-by-night sales people, or “soft shoe” as some were called, anxious to make a quick dollar, were much in evidence in the early days.  The developers were told – by people who did not bother to check their facts – that lots could be leased,  “so buy two or four and more and you’ll pay for your own lot and make money.”  One salesman gleefully reported that he had sold 24 lots in one day, when the truth was only three had gone through.  In addition, as a buying gimmick, a contract was drawn up for no down, no interest or dues for the first year.  Before that year was out, the developers had been informed that leasing was not permitted by the county.  Consequently, many of those who had multiple lots lost interest and failing to resell any of their lots, just forgot the whole thing.

Protection for Homeowners

In order to protect the property, liens were filed on each and every lot on which no money was being paid.  Much of the wording of parts of the CC&Rs was ambiguous, interpreted by several lawyers in a number of different ways.  Some of the lawyers were advising disgruntled owners to sue the corporation for false advertising,  and many of them did.  Many of the other owners felt that there was a future, and a good one, if they could just wait out the storm.  Today, these same people have seen their faith justified and are happy residents.  Especially happy are they in the price they paid for their lots at the time compared with the value of them now.  Especially unhappy are the few who did not have the foresight (or perhaps the means) to invest in more than one lot.

More Struggles for the Development

In replacing Henry with Eddie, Mr. Halimi thought Eddie was mature and stable but as succeeding events unfolded, his judgment was very poor.  Money coming in was being spent elsewhere, no records of receipts or disbursements were kept here; the section called “B” had had ample funds set aside for installation of utilities and street lighting, but it was spent for the Tyrolian Village development in Nevada.  A showdown came in early 1975 with Eddie taken off the job and Mr. Halimi and his wife returning to Iran.

Mid- 1970s – Brentwood Savings and Loan

Brentwood Savings and Loan Association acquired the property, sending our their representative Ernest Roach, project manager, whose job it was to supervise completion of utilities and preparation of lots.  Ernie worked day and night it seemed and many of us feared for his health.  His wisdom and help guided us all to the threshold of better and happier days.

In addition to Ernie, Brentwood sent out a broker and sales person team, Bill and Betty Neeper, who immediately won the hearts of all.  Enthusiastic workers, who had complete faith in Highland Palms as a community, they were untiring in their efforts to “put us on the map.”  In less than 3 years, they had “legally” sold over 300 lots.  Coaches were moving in daily and we who had watched all this for 3 or more years, sat back and complacently thought (and often said), “I told you so!”  Brentwood ultimately gave the park clear title to all of the property.

During the early years, before utilities were reality, a few coaches which had moved into the “B” section had large propane tanks installed and electric lines were strung across from the “A” section to serve the residents in the “B” section.  We had many trials and tribulations, working out rules, operational events, without any guidelines.  Sierra Dawn was the only other owner mobile park and they were having their troubles too.  They borrowed ideas from our Board of Directors, who had no experience, and we borrowed ideas from other rental parks and by a process of elimination and common sense and the Golden Rule, came up with something we could relate to.

Several “Firsts” of Highland Palms

Our first manager was Merle Hancock and his wife Clara.  The Hancocks left September 1, 1973 to return to Palm Springs and were replaced by Jack Stokes, who was also a professional golfer.  Jack, a bachelor, was loved by all.  He initiated our first open Golf Tournament called The Highland Fling, gave lessons to anyone who asked for them, gave the newly formed Tuesday Club $200.00 to sent it off and was in general good for us.  After a year, his health began failing and by the latter part of 1974, he passed away.  After that, the concept of manager ended and the Board of Directors became the governing power.

Some of our other firsts are:

• First Residents – George Urquhart, October 1972
• First Board of Directors    Henry Halimi, President
                                              George Urquhart, Vice President
                                              Arthur Ridout, Secretary
                                              Ted Rurup, Treasurer
                                               Dick Gaston
• First Potluck – June 1973
• First Newsletter – July 25, 1973
• First Flag – November 1, 1973, donated by VFW -1-
• First Tuesday Club Meeting – February 14, 1974
• First Game Night – July 2, 1974
• First Open Golf Tournament – March 1974

We hope this little bit of early history has been interesting and informative to you all.  It has been a pleasure to reminisce and a privilege to have lived through the formation of the place well now call home, the incomparable HIGHLAND PALMS MOBILE ESTATES.

Presented by Violet V. Hyde

1986 Editor of Highland Palms Highlights Note:\

Vi Hyde, author of the foregoing article on the early history of Highland Palms Mobile Estates, was the first Secretary of our Homeowners Association.  Vi and her husband Henderson have always given their best in advice and volunteer efforts for the well being of our park.  This “And in the Beginning” article is another example of their contributions.  Be sure to view Vi’s snapshot montage of early views of the park, on display in the clubhouse.